Not Heavenly Mother…Pink Floyd Mother (covered by Pearl Jam)

There has been a number of rather contentious and awkward conversations about Heavenly Mother on the bloggernacle over the years. My view is that we should spend more time thinking about the role that mother’s play in our society and our relationship with the mothers in our own lives. I think that one of the great contributions of feminist theory is the emphasis on the here and now…and the need to avoid unnecessary abstraction.

In “Mother” by Roger Waters (originally perform by Pink Floyd on “The Wall” album), Waters deals with the complicated relationship he had with his own mother. The song is painful and heart-breaking.

Here is a recent cover of that song by Pearl Jam. I think the Pearl Jam does a beautiful job.

I work Pink Floyd references into many of my church talks. Once when assigned to speak on Mother’s Day. the ward clerk was in the room and he asked, “How are you going to fit Pink Floyd into that one.”

“You have no idea how easily I can,” I responded as I immediately thought of this song.

There was no Floyd in that talk…though there was Antigone, Jean Bethke Elshtain, and Latin American human right movements.